Normal functioning of the brain and nervous system is critical to a healthy, enjoyable and productive life. Disorders of the brain and nervous system are among the most dreaded of diseases. Many neurological disorders such as stroke, Alzheimer's dementia, and Parkinson's disease are insidious and progressive, becoming more common with increasing age. Others such as schizophrenia, depression, multiple sclerosis and epilepsy arise at younger age and can persist and progress throughout an individual's lifetime. Sudden catastrophic injuries to the nervous system, such as trauma, infections, and intoxications can also affect any individual of any age at any time.
Most nervous system dysfunction arises from complex interactions between an individual's genotype, environment and personal habits and thus often presents in highly personalized ways. However, despite the emerging importance of preventative health care, convenient means for objectively assessing the health of one's own nervous system have not been widely available. Therefore, new ways to monitor the personalized health status of the brain and nervous system are needed for normal health surveillance, early diagnosis of dysfunction, tracking of disease progression and the discovery and optimization of treatments and new therapies.
Unlike cardiovascular and metabolic disorders, where personalized health monitoring biomarkers such as blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood glucose have long become household terms, no such convenient biomarkers of brain and nervous system health exist. Quantitative neurophysiological assessment approaches such as positron emission tomography (PET), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and neuropsychiatric or cognition testing involve significant operator expertise, inpatient or clinic based testing and significant time and expense. One potential technique that may be adapted to serve a broader role as a facile biomarker of nervous system function is electroencephalography (EEG), which measures the brain's ability to generate and transmit electrical signals. However, formal lab based EEG approaches typically require significant operator training, cumbersome equipment, and are used primarily to test for epilepsy.
Alternate and innovative biomarker approaches are needed to provide quantitative measurements of personal brain health that could greatly improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders.